How to Teach Yourself SEO

Your first foray into the field of SEO can be an intimidating thing. Confusing acronyms, realizing that “crawling” isn’t always referring to what comes before walking, and learning the differences between Panda, Penguin, and Hummingbird updates without going to the zoo- it’s a different language than what many of us are used to, and it’s scary trying to jump right in. Luckily, there are tons of guides, resources, and SEO tutorials for beginners out there to act as training wheels while you learn the ins and outs of SEO. Here are some of the most helpful SEO guides for beginners:

Probably the most well-known SEO resource out there, Moz’s Beginner’s Guide to SEO is ten chapters of useful information written without the lingo and jargon that so often infiltrates the field of SEO. With over one million reads vouching for its value, the guide begins by explaining how search engines operate, giving you the background information necessary to succeed in SEO by giving an overview of how search engines are used by both humans and robots before going into the more technical aspects of keyword research, design, link building, and more. Did we mention that it’s free? (Psst… if you’re looking to brush up your social media and link building skills, Moz has beginner’s guides for those topics as well)

Whether or not you’re a Hubspot customer, these guides provide simple basics of website optimization for SEO. Start by reading the 9 Step On-Page Search Engine Optimization Guide, then move on to using their worksheets and checklists for your own website. The Hubspot Academy as a whole is a wealth of knowledge with tons of guides, webinars, and useful blog posts that answer any and all questions you could possibly have about SEO.

Hey, why not go straight to the source, right? If you want to rank in Google, it only makes sense to use their starter guide to make sure your site is optimized for SEO. One especially helpful aspect of this SEO guide is that it explicitly covers SEO for Mobile Phones, a growing field that will only continue to get more important as people rely more on searching while on-the-go.

For a more creative approach to SEO tips for beginners, check out Search Engine Land’s Periodic Table of SEO Success. The table is divided into sections such as Types of Search Engine Success Factors, Content and Search Engine Success Factors, and more. Each section goes into more detail of a table area, giving more information about each box of the table in easily digestible chunks along with links to relevant articles and resources. Sure, it feels like a bit of a flashback to middle school science, but it keeps you interested and engaged.

Do you learn better by watching and listening someone talk, rather than by reading information? If so, Neil Patel’s Quicksprout site has plenty of educational videos for you to enjoy. His videos are neatly categorized by topic (SEO, Link Building, Content Marketing, and more), and each topic is further sub-categorized by experience level (Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced). The videos include helpful screenshots and demonstrations of what the speaker is discussing. Note that while the videos are only available to Quicksprout Traffic University members (which requires a monthly fee), the transcripts are available for free. The field of SEO may seem complex and difficult to understand at first, but with the right tools, you can teach yourself the basic principles of SEO and help improve your website’s rankings in the search engines. What other tools have you found helpful for learning SEO?